James Webb Space Telescope's Giant Sunshield Test Unit Unfurled First Time 28 July 2014, by Ken Kremer

James Webb Space Telescope's giant sunshield test unit unfurled first time 28 July 2014, by Ken Kremer

component of the observatory and acts like a parasol.

Its purpose is to protect Webb from the suns heat and passively cool the telescope and its quartet of sensitive science instruments via permanent shade to approximately 45 kelvins, -380 degrees F, -233 C.

The kite-shaped Sunshield provides an effective sun protection factor or SPF of 1,000,000. By comparison suntan lotion for humans has an SPF of 8 to 40.

The sunshield test unit on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is unfurled for the first time. Credit: NASA

The huge Sunshield test unit for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been successfully unfurled for the first time in a key milestone ahead of the launch scheduled for October 2018.

Engineers stacked and expanded the tennis-court sized Sunshield test unit last week inside the cleanroom at a Northrop Grumman facility in Redondo Beach, California.

NASA reports that the operation proceeded perfectly the first time during the test of the full- Artist’s concept of the James Webb Space Telescope sized unit. (JWST) with Sunshield at bottom. Credit: NASA/ESA

The Sunshield and every other JWST component must unfold perfectly and to precise tolerances in space because it has not been designed for The extreme cold is required for the telescope to servicing or repairs by astronaut crews voyaging function in the infrared (IR) wavelengths and enable beyond low-Earth orbit into deep space, William it to look back in time further than ever before to Ochs, Associate Director for JWST at NASA detect distant objects. Goddard told me in an exclusive interview. The shield separates the observatory into a warm The five layered Sunshield is the largest sun-facing side and a cold anti-sun side.

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Its five thin membrane layers also provides a stable the telescopes mirrors and sunshield will begin a thermal environment to keep the telescopes 18 rather complex six month long unfolding and primary mirror segments properly aligned for calibration process. Webb's science investigations. The science instruments have been mounted inside JWST is the successor to the 24 year old Hubble the ISIM science module and are currently Space Telescope and will become the most undergoing critical vacuum chamber testing at powerful telescope ever sent to space. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center which provides overall management and systems engineering. The Webb Telescope is a joint international collaborative project between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

NASA has overall responsibility and Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for JWST.

Webb will launch folded up inside the payload fairing of an ESA Ariane V ECA rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

Sunshield test unit on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is unfurled for the first time at Northrup Grumman. Credit: NASA

The mirror segments have arrived at NASA Goddard where I've had the opportunity to observe and report on work in progress.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing JWST, MMS, ISS, Curiosity, Opportunity, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Boeing, Orion, MAVEN, MOM, Mars and

more Earth and Planetary science and human Two sides of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). spaceflight news. Credit: NASA

Provided by Universe Today

In launch configuration, the Sunshield will surround the main mirrors and instruments like an umbrella.

During the post launch journey to the L2 observing orbit at the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point nearly a million miles (1.5 million Km) from Earth,

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APA citation: James Webb Space Telescope's giant sunshield test unit unfurled first time (2014, July 28) retrieved 27 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2014-07-james-webb-space-telescope- giant.html

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